


Interloper

by eurydice72



Series: Watch and Learn [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Accidental Voyeurism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-07
Updated: 2013-08-07
Packaged: 2017-12-22 17:39:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/916133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eurydice72/pseuds/eurydice72
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mordred seizes what looks like a good opportunity to see his professor Morgana on a more personal level, only to witness something he never anticipated...</p>
<p>Written for Camelot_Drabbles prompt #69, "envy."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Interloper

Every step was a rehearsal, words forming and reforming in his head, muscles tensing and relaxing throughout every limb. Seeing Morgana's office light on when he'd emerged from the library had been fate, Mordred decided. The time had come for him to face her beyond the conscripted realm they'd inhabited. By going to see her outside of her office hours, he could begin encouraging her to see him as a man instead of a student, a peer instead of a subordinate.

It would take time, but he would be patient. The end result would more than make up for it.

The building was mostly deserted at this time of night, professors gone home to loved ones, corridors awash with ghosts of students past. When he emerged onto the third floor, the only illumination came from slivers thrown into the darkened hall through her slightly ajar door. 

His pace quickened, his footfalls silent. All he heard was the thunderous roar of his blood in his ears.

And then he heard the voices.

"--today of all days."

He froze at the sound of Morgana's breathy tone. She wasn't alone. How stupid was he? Of course, she had a reason to be in her office at this time of night. She would likely be annoyed he'd interrupted, too. He was better off turning back now and waiting for another opportunity to present itself.

But as he turned to retreat, her visitor spoke up.

"If not today, then when?" Dr. Emrys matched her tone, rooting Mordred in place. He'd learned quite a bit about the man in the few weeks he'd been auditing his class, but this soft, almost gentle tone was nothing like he'd witnessed from him before. And certainly, never with Morgana. "Don't make me go."

"You shouldn't have come in the first place."

"I shouldn't do a lot of things, and yet, here we are."

"Merlin--"

Her cry went straight to Mordred's gut, impelling him to leap forward and save her from whatever Dr. Emrys had done. He was reaching for the door when he caught sight of her through the crack, and once again, became locked in place, too startled to move.

Dr. Emrys wasn't hurting her. His hands were buried in her thick hair, holding her head still as he pressed her to the edge of the desk and kissed her. And Morgana wasn't a passive participant. Her fingers fisted the sides of his loose shirt, tugging him closer so it was harder for Mordred to see. As the kiss lengthened, whimpers came from her throat, sounds that should've been relegated to midnight hours and the heated sheets of a rumpled bed.

Mordred couldn't breathe. His cock had gone hard as soon as he recognized what was going on, all the adrenaline that had pushed him here now found new life in passion he couldn't partake in. It should've been him in that office, his body rubbing against hers, his mouth being devastated by the force of her returned desire. Instead, Dr. Emrys, the last man he would ever have imagined in Morgana's arms, received the bounty.

"Merlin..."

"Don't." He spoke without lifting his head, but a new tension had come to the set of his shoulders. "Please. Not today."

"So you can go back to hating me tomorrow?"

"Jesus, Morgana..." His voice was thick with unidentified emotion. "Don't you think if I hated you, I could walk away from all this without looking back?"

She was the one to move this time, lifting her arms to coil around his back and draw him even more firmly against her flesh. When she buried her face in the crook of Dr. Emrys's neck, lips moving along his flushed skin as if in silent prayer, Mordred edged back, deeper into the corridor's shadows, for fear of being caught out like this. 

He had no idea what was going on, what was so special about today, why they had come together in private when their antagonisms were so public, how he could be expected to erase the images they presented and go on with his life in ignorance. He wasn't even sure who he was more envious of--Dr. Emrys for being the one Morgana now clung to, or Morgana for evoking such desperate need in Dr. Emrys. 

Either way, he couldn't just stand there and watch, though he longed to see this through to its end. He was the interloper here, and his earlier decision to wait for another chance was still the wise one. If they caught him out, he would lose what trust and respect he'd been able to cultivate with them.

That, more than all the rest of it, finally drove him back to the exit. Because at the end of the day, he'd worked too hard for what little ground he had. He would not lose it for a little bit of jealousy.

But his dreams that night refused to let him forget.


End file.
